U.S. and Haitians Differ on Entourage For Aristide Return

By DOUGLAS JEHL,

Published: October 13, 1994

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12—
Three days before the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide is to reclaim the presidency of Haiti, his advisers and the Clinton Administration have yet to agree about the size and shape of the official delegation that will celebrate his homecoming.

At issue is how many American officials, members of Congress, private citizens and aircraft should be sent to a country where security remains uncertain -- despite the presence of nearly 20,000 United States troops who arrived on Sept. 19 to enforce the change in power.

Aides to President Clinton say they are eager to join Father Aristide in what they see as the celebration of an American foreign policy success. But even as Haiti's coup leaders prepared to leave, Pentagon officials in Port-au-Prince were trying to determine how large a delegation could safely accompany Father Aristide from the airport to a huge ceremony planned at the presidential palace.

Even tonight, the Administration would say only that Father Aristide would return to Port-au-Prince aboard an Air Force jet on Saturday morning, 3 three years and 16 days after he was ousted. He will be accompanied by Secretary of State Warren Christopher, among others.

But exactly who those others will be is still being worked out, Administration officials said. Aides to Father Aristide have invited dozens to join him, including several longtime supporters almost certain to be given places in the delegation. Among them are the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut; Representative Joseph P. Kennedy 3d, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Randall Robinson, the lobbyist whose hunger strike last spring helped to push Mr. Clinton along a course toward using military force.

But Father Aristide's wish list also includes many others from Congress (Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts), from Hollywood (the director Jonathan Demme) and from among Haitian-Americans. Administration officials said tonight that they did not see how all could be accommodated without unnecessary risk.

"We're the ones who need to get everyone in and out of there," a senior Administration official said, "and there's a limit on how many people the Defense Department folks can adequately protect."

Because of security concerns, the official delegation will spend no more than eight hours in Haiti after arriving there about 10 A.M. on Saturday, Administration officials said today.

People close to Father Aristide were still describing plans calling for a three-plane convoy from Andrews Air Force Base to Port-au-Prince. But Administration officials said the United States could not safely provide for more people than would fit aboard one large Air Force jet.

Such a decision could cause new bitterness among advisers to Mr. Aristide. Some of those advisers have expressed deep frustration at the slow pace with which American forces have begun to disarm his opponents.

A senior White House official said tonight that Mr. Clinton shared Mr. Aristide's aspiration to invite as many people as possible. But the White House appeared intent on finding other ways to draw attention to what Mr. Clinton is presenting as a foreign-policy triumph.

The White House said today that as a final send-off for Father Aristide, who has lived out his exile in luxury Washington apartments, Mr. Clinton would hold a ceremony in the Rose Garden on Friday morning.

"This is a milestone, and we're not going to be shy in calling attention to it," a senior Administration official said today. "The President has always said that we would restore democracy to Haiti and that we would restore Aristide, and now we're about to do exactly that."

But some advisers to Father Aristide, including Michael D. Barnes, a former Congressman from Maryland who is his counselor, have called attention to what they regard as the failure of the American military mission to make Haiti safe.

"There are still a large number of well-armed enemies of democracy in Haiti who do not want this process to succeed and have already demonstrated a willingness to do everything possible to undermine it," Mr. Barnes said today.

But others refrained from such criticism today. At a gathering of journalists and Haitians living in New York, Jesse Jackson said his role in accompanying Father Aristide on his return would be to pray and observe.

Father Aristide himself has rarely disguised his dissatisfaction with the steps taken by the Administration in his name. But at a memorial ceremony today for Guy Mallory, his Justice Minister, who was assassinated in Haiti last Oct. 14, Mr. Aristide mixed expressions of sorrow with declarations of delight.

"Saturday will be beautiful," Father Aristide said as he compared his impending return with the day he took the oath of office in February 1991, "and we'll be talking about a beautiful day."